Electromodulation of the Magnetoresistance in Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors Based Heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electric fields can modulate magnetoresistance in heterostructures made of diluted magnetic semiconductors, revealing potential for electrically controlled magnetic devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates electric field control of RKKY-type exchange coupling and magnetoresistance in magnetic semiconductor heterostructures, a novel approach for tunable spintronic applications.

Findings

Exchange coupling oscillates between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic states.

Magnetoresistance can be dramatically altered by an electric bias.

Electrical control enables potential for electrically tunable magnetic devices.

Abstract

We study the properties of heterostructures formed by two layers of diluted magnetic semiconductor separated by a nonmagnetic semiconductor layer. We find that there is a RKKY-type exchange coupling between the magnetic layers that oscilles between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic as a function of the different parameters in the problem. The different transport properties of these phases make that this heterostructure presents strong magnetoresistive effects. The coupling can be also modified by an electric field. We propose that it is possible to alter dramatically the electrical resistance of the heterostructure by applying an electric field. Our results indicate that in a single gated sample the magnetoresistance could be modulated by with an electrical bias voltage.